The Myths of Mary Magdalene Lectures with Mythologist Kayleen Asbo

Audio files of the acclaimed lecture series are now available for download. You can download individual lectures, or purchase the entire seven-week series. Each lecture contains approximately 45 minutes of insights, stories, and inspiration. Individual lectures are available in mp3 format; the series can be purchased as mp3 files. These are audio files only; you will also receive the access code to view the slides on the Archives page of this website.

Purchase the series

Buy the entire set of lectures, over seven hours of insightful, entertaining, and inspiring presentations. Kayleen Asbo will introduction you to Mary Magdalene as she has been presented through the centuries.

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What you will learn

Class 1

Introduction to the Many Faces of Mary Magdalene​

Artists throughout the centuries have portrayed Mary Magdalene amidst a recurring set of symbols. In this introductory lecture we begin our exploration of Mary Magdalene by looking into these symbols and what aspects of her personality they portray. Mythologist Kayleen Asbo discusses the meaning of the mirror, the flame, the book, the skull, the alabaster jar, and more. These symbols reveal not just Mary Magdalene, but perhaps also something within each of us. Thus we begin to see how Mary Magdalene's life illuminates our own spiritual journeys.

Class 2

Apostle to the Apostles: Mary Magdalene in the Gospels

We turn to Mary Magdalene as she appears in the New Testament: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Contrary to the collective popular perception of a prostitute, in the Gospels she appears by name only as a a faithful follower of Christ. She appears first in Luke as a woman of means who funds Jesus' ministry, The Gospel writers all agree - in an unusual act of uniformity- that she was present at the crucifixion after the male disciples fled, and that she appeared first at the tomb to anoint Christ's body and prepare it for burial. She is the first witness of the resurrection, and is charged with bringing the message to the other disciples. In the Orthodox tradition, she is honored and revered as the "Apostle to the Apostles". We'll explore how this image of her is consistent with the Gospel of Mary, discovered in Egypt at the end of the nineteenth century, and thought by scholars to have been written at about the same time as the texts that were authorized as the New Testament.

Class 3

The Contemplative Mary and Mary of Bethany

There are multiple Marys in the New Testament, and there has been a centuries old debate about which ones are the same woman. In this class, we will meet Mary of Bethany, a prayerful woman of deep emotion who sat at Christ's feet as his disciple. We'll explore the reasons why the two Marys have been linked together in Catholicism- and the reasons why the Eastern Orthodox Church has always believed them to be different women. We'll share the beautiful stories of a prayerful seeker lost in contemplation, the sister of Martha , the woman who foreshadows Christ's death and witnesses the miraculous revival of her brother, Lazarus.

Class 4

The Invention of the Penitent Prostitute

GIn the sixth century, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene were joined with the unnamed sinner in Luke's gospel and the local legends of a reformed prostitute, Mary of Egypt, to create a composite character representing the image of the penitent sinner. We'll trace the social and political reasons behind Pope Gregory's sermon which, in the words of one scholar, "turned the most faithful witness and the first apostle into a whore".

As Christianity become more fearful of women and sexuality, Mary Magdalene became one of the only figures in the New Testament to embody sensuality. We'll trace how as her sins multiplied, devotion to her cult increased until she became one of the most prominent saints of medieval Europe- for reasons that had nothing to do with scriptures themselves.

Class 5

The Medieval Magdalene of Heretics and Troubadours

We'll begin this class with the rousing twelfth century Golden Legend , which tells the story of how Mary Magdalene arrived on the shores of southern France in a rudderless boat after the crucifixion, preaching and teaching Christianity throughout Provence before retiring to a life as a hermit in the caves of La Baume. We'll turn next to the influence of Mary Magdalene on the Troubadours and the tragic history of the Albigensian Crusade , when most of the Cathars were exterminated in part for their heretical beliefs in Mary Magdalene while a few fled deeply into the mountains of the Dordogne.

Class 6

The Woman Who Knew All: The Gnostic Magdalene

In 1945, a treasure trove of ancient manuscripts was discovered in a cave in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. This collection of gospels, actively suppressed by Rome in the fourth century, depicts the teachings of Jesus in ways that are sometimes familiar and sometimes very different and challenging to our notions of Christianity. The emphasis is on personal gnosis, or inner knowledge, and repeatedly the disciple who is depicted as best understanding Jesus' message and meaning is Mary Magdalene . She is called the "Woman Who Knows All" , the embodiment of wisdom or Sophia. We'll explore the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, Pistis Sophia and the Dialogue of the Savior and trace the underlying tensions between the disciples around the questions of the role of women in spiritual leadership.

Class 7

Magdalene as Anthropos: A Guide For Our Times

Mary Magdalene is described in several Gnostic texts as "Anthropos"- a fully realized human being. In our final class, we will turn to the emergence of Mary Magdalene as an archetypal figure who reconciles all seeming paradoxes, holding the tension of the opposites and pointing the way in our own time to the integration of the sacred and secular. We'll discuss the controversy surrounding the so-called "Gospel of Jesus' Wife", currently being studied by Professor Karen King at Harvard University and conclude with a preview of Mark Adamo's emotionally charged new opera, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which envisions a powerful, compassionate and passionately dynamic relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

To book Kayleen for lectures and workshops on Mary Magdalene email KayleenAsbo@yahoo.com